Bangalore, 13 December, 2012 – Now is the right time for the Indian payments community to prepare its infrastructure to support the country’s migration towards the global EMV® payments technology standard, advises FIME, a global leader in consulting and testing services for payment solutions, which has an office in Bangalore, India.

The National Payments Corporation of India’s (NPCI) EMV payment scheme, RuPay, which has the potential to significantly reduce costs for both banks and customers, is expected to be mandated early next year; necessitating all industry players to align their solutions with the global standard. FIME offers consultancy, test and certification services to confirm that an EMV product operates in the market as intended and adheres to the highest security and functionality requirements before market launch.

EMV technology is a global standard for credit and debit payment cards based on chip card technology. It has been identified as a key component in the development of a stable electronic payments (e-payments) network by the Reserve Bank of India and its working group in the vision paper, entitled: ‘Payments System Vision Document 2012 – 2015’, published in October this year. The group’s objective is to create a secure and accessible payments framework in the country, which provides security and financial inclusion for India’s largely un-banked population by embracing the capabilities of chip technology. RuPay is the Indian domestic card payment platform being set up by the NPCI, which will enable Indian banks to reduce transaction cost (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transaction_cost)s by introducing competition to international card schemes like MasterCard and Visa.

Many countries have, or are in the process of migrating to this technology standard. As an example, FIME is currently supporting Australia’s eftpos scheme in its transition to EMV technology. For this national payment scheme, FIME has devised a customised certification programme that validates whether point-of-sale terminals are compliant to the EMV standards and will perform as required once deployed.

Prakash Sambandam, Managing Director, FIME India, comments: “Due to the global momentum towards EMV and the drive by the Reserve Bank of India to stabilise the country’s payment framework, a mandate for EMV technology is expected to be issued in early 2013. Once agreed, banks and other payment stakeholders will be required to adhere to the standard. This will necessitate new stages in product development cycles and create additional processes for issuers and integrators to confirm compliance to EMV standards before launching their payments products. It is therefore advisable that banks and other key players assess the impact that EMV will have on their existing systems in advance of the EMV migration date, and be prepared to adopt the new standards by taking the relevant steps.”

FIME works with partners throughout the development and implementation process of EMV technology, explains Prakash. “Our experience in EMV and working with international and national payment bodies and knowledge of local markets will assist companies in the transitional period.”

FIME is a leading authority on global EMV payment solutions. It is also an EMVCo Technical Associate, accredited laboratory, test tool provider and provides certification services for American Express, MasterCard and Visa.

®EMV is a registered trademark in the U.S., and is an unregistered trademark in other countries, owned by EMVCo.

As an independent worldwide leader in consulting and testing services, FIME ensures the compliance of mobile devices and chip-based applications to industry standards. Its international team works with manufacturers, banks and authorities within the EMV payments, mobile near field communication (NFC), telecom, transport and e-identity sectors.

FIME offers a local presence across America, Asia, Europe, Middle East and Africa, and India, through its team of over 200 experts and consultants. Since 1995, FIME has expanded its global network of ISO 17025 accredited laboratories which provide official testing and certification services. FIME’s technical R&D expertise supports its customers’ technology implementations, accelerating time to market.